Looks like we made it, as Shania Twain once said. And though they may no longer be the one Saints are still in there fighting after this mercifully comfortable victory over Craig Lingard’s Castleford Tigers on Friday night (September 13).
The last few weeks have seen pressure build on Paul Wellens as the prospect of missing the playoffs became a very plausible one. And while this result and performance won’t eliminate the doubts about the Head Coach among the fan base he will have been relieved to finally see his attack rack up some points as well as get through another 40-minute period without conceding any. The points difference situation was well in Saints’ favour before this one. It will take a mathematical miracle to keep them out of the top six now.
By contrast Castleford were not thinking about the playoffs. All interest in that ended some months ago for them. If indeed it ever existed. With no relegation to worry about either, the Tigers’ season has long since been reduced to stressing about off-field matters. Attendances, the state of their home ground and their place in IMG’s latest gradings will decide their Super League participation in 2025. There was very little to gain or lose for them on the field, and it showed in their performance.
The cavalry returned for Saints as Wellens made several changes to his 17. Harry Robertson was out injured so Jack Welsby settled back into his customary fullback role from the start, while Tommy Makinson returned from suspension to replace Tee Ritson. Sione Mata’utia remained in the centres which was some surprise given that Mark Percival also returned. It meant that finally - after much wailing and gnashing of teeth from the fan base – comedy wick dipper and occasional try scorer Waqa Blake was left out of the match day squad.
Moses Mbye was suspended but that loss was covered by the return of Lewis Dodd. The South Sydney Rabbitohs-bound halfback had not featured since Mbye’s drop-goal edged Saints past Salford Red Devils in early August. Up front Daryl Clark returned to the 17 but was not thrown in from the start which allowed Jake Burns to take his place in the first 13. Joining Clark on the bench were the returning James Bell – not involved since Saints were shut out 20-0 by Wigan at mid-August’s Magic Weekend – as well as props Agnatius Paasi and George Delaney.
Lingard was without star fullback Tex Hoy as well as centre Corey Hall. Fletcher Rooney deputised for Hoy while Alex Mellor was drafted into the threequarters in place of Hall. Young halfback Jenson Windley had started in the defeat to Leigh Leopards a week previously but was relegated to a bench spot as Lingard restored Rowan Milnes to the starting line-up.
In the pack there was no Joe Westerman so Muizz Mustapha got the nod to start while George Lawler was promoted from the bench to take Mellor’s second row berth. Liam Horne started at loose forward as George Hill missed out. Cain Robb was another absentee so there was a debut off the bench for Super League’s first ever Estonian player Akim Matvejev.
Aside from ensuring that they got the win the main thing on Saints fans’ minds might well have been farewells. Unless Saints can secure a home playoff tie by beating the Leopards in their final regular season game then all of Makinson, Mata’utia and Dodd have played their last home games for the club. Makinson has a two-year deal with Catalans Dragons with North Queensland Cowboys winger Kyle Feldt taking his place. Mata’utia is returning to Australia for family reasons and possibly retiring aged just 28 while Dodd will begin a two-year deal with the bunnies next season.
All have contributed greatly to the success of the side over the last few years – much longer in the case of Makinson – and will be missed even if their replacements are all of the quality of Feldt. Makinson is in the conversation as one of Saints’ best ever wingers in the Super League era with his 203 tries in 333 appearances going into this one, while Mata’utia has been a versatile, consistent and solid presence in his four seasons even if he did have rather too many brushes with the Match Review Panel early in his stay.
Dodd has attracted moans and groans since returning from a ruptured achilles which has seemingly slowed him down and made him more hesitant, but he can point to a Grand Final win in 2021 and of course – the game which is thought to have sealed his move down under – his performance in Saints’ 13-12 World Club Challenge win in Penrith Panthers’ back yard in January 2023. Back when there were few people prepared to voice the opinion that Wellens doesn’t really know what he’s doing. All three have made a significant contribution to the club’s recent history and That Saints Blog wishes them well. The jury remains out on Wellens the Head Coach…
Along with the other big guns returning to the side they certainly made their mark in this one. While the more experienced players have taken a lot of deserved criticism for recent performances their proven quality and nous made this one something of a stroll. Makinson and Mata’utia combined to great effect on Saints’ right edge and were the top two metre makers. Yet the most notable aspect of having majority of the senior pros back was the defensive line speed. There were many occasions when the Tigers lost yards not through a bad pass or handling error but just by the sheer speed with which Saints defenders were in their faces.
You may be among those to take the view that this was helped by the omission of one particular senior player. After a string of eccentric, languid - some may say lazy - performances Wellens finally lost patience with Blake. I’m never in favour of using second rowers in the centre - especially a second rower like Mata’utia who has played at prop this season - but it is hard to make a case that Blake merits a place ahead of the former Newcastle Knight. Certainly Mata’utia’s performance would seem to justify Wellens’ decision.
The question now is whether Blake - a five time Fijian international and City Origin player with 165 NRL games under his belt - will ever pull on the red vee again. If he doesn’t and his current one-year deal is not extended then his spell in Super League could be remembered as one of the more underwhelming of recent times. It’s maybe not been quite as disappointing as that of Josh Perry or as uneventful as that of Joel Thompson but…well…put it this way…Jamie Lyon’s Saints legacy is not in any immediate danger of being usurped.
Though Saints were able to pile on 40 points - the most they have scored since running in 46 points at Hull in August and the joint fourth highest total they have managed in 2024 - the performance was not perfect. They left quite a few points out there on the field. Jonny Lomax would have had a hat-trick on another day. An early chance was carved up when Makinson broke down the right but the pass was slightly behind the skipper. Then in the second half Makinson tried to set him up again, batting a Dodd bomb into his possession only for Lomax to lose possession when he tried to switch hands and ground it under pressure from Rooney. Lomax did manage one, strolling over from close range from dummy half thanks to some laughable marker defence from Miller. A penny for Windley’s thoughts.
One man not wasting opportunities - at least those of a try scoring nature - was Jon Bennison. His goal-kicking was rather more erratic but he helped himself to a fine winger’s hat-trick and the Player Of The Match award. It took his season’s tally to six which - while hardly prolific - is not catastrophic given he has only made 15 appearances while Wellens has wrestled with the underwhelming choice between him and Ritson. Bennison now has 20 Saints tries in 54 appearances which compares very favourably to Ritson’s three in 26. Yet neither appear to be the answer and we could do with another like Feldt if and when the cap allows.
George Delaney doesn’t score many tries. In fact the one he nabbed in this game was his first for Saints on the occasion of his 46th appearance for the club. It was a nice moment for the 20 year-old whose fearlessness and endeavour has never really been in question. Whether he can inherit Alex Walmsley’s role of eating up the ground and really getting the side down the field remains to be seen. Yet with Walmsley appearing to be visibly fading despite having a two-year contract in his back pocket - the day is nearing when Delaney may have to take on a more prominent role in the side.
His try was an undoubted highlight and may have got more attention had it not been for the contributions of Mata’utia and Makinson on what could still be their final Saints outing at the stadium formerly known as Langtree Park. Makinson added try 204 of his storied Saints career late on thanks to good work by Mata’utia and Lomax on that right edge, while Mata’utia himself raised the roof when he slotted over his first and only carer goal in over 200 professional outings.
That was the conversion to Delaney’s try which was the eighth and final one of the night for Saints. As well as Bennison’s hat-trick, Makinson, Lomax and Delaney’s efforts there was an early one for Burns as he backed up a Walmsley break and a classically simple plunge over by Paasi after a Clark pass. Not too shabby considering this was a game few of us were all that certain about even winning prior to kick-off.
There should also be some praise reserved for the defence who were breached just the once when the outstanding Rooney beat Mata’utia’ and held off Makinson to score late in the first half. Saints then held Cas out for the entire second period. It was the 15th occasion this season on which Saints have gone through an entire 40-minute period without conceding any points. When the injuries have not been ruinous it’s reasonable to suggest that defence hasn’t been the problem. Despite a difficult second half of the season which saw them lose five league games in a row at one point Saints still have the fourth best defence in the league.
And suddenly Saints have an opportunity to finish in the top four and earn another home appearance for the departing trio. A win at Leigh this weekend should do it given that Salford face a Wigan side looking to tie up the League Leaders Shield. Paul Rowley has picked a controversially weak Red Devils squad which - while you can’t blame him for putting all of his focus on the playoffs - shows the folly of staggering the fixtures on the final weekend of the regular season.
Any sport worth its sodium has learned that playing final round fixtures simultaneously is the only way to avoid seeing weakened sides fielded and hearing gossip about manufactured results. There’s a certain irony to that in that many of us have lobbied for staggering in previous rounds so that fans would have been able to watch them all. Yet the integrity of the competition not to mention the potential for drama are undoubtedly damaged. Ultimately it’s a broadcaster’s decision which prioritises creating more content and filling more schedule time over integrity and drama.
Leigh away is a tough fixture whoever makes the Saints lineup but at least now there is the hope of something better than a one and done playoff experience. A few short weeks ago there were those hoping Saints wouldn’t even make the top 6 so as to avoid a potentially humiliating defeat. Yet I’ve always been of the opinion that it was always worth getting in to the knockout games to preserve a proud and unique record of having never missed the playoffs in the Super League era. It’s not beyond the realms of possibility that Saints could end up hosting Salford in week one of the playoffs. That’s not a gimme win given Salford’s victory at Saints in March but with everyone on deck it would create excitement about the prospect of another semi-final.
Conversely, a loss to Leigh would likely send Saints to either Warrington or Hull KR, either of which look appreciably more difficult than even another tense battle with Rowley’s men. So it’s a potentially huge last league game of the year for Wellens.
Many will judge him on it. But aren’t you so glad we made it?
Saints: Welsby, Makinson, Mata’utia, Percival, Bennison, Lomax, Dodd, Walmsley, Burns, Lees, Whitley, Batchelor, Knowles. Interchanges: Clark, Bell, Paasi, Delaney
Castleford Tigers: Rooney, Qareqare, Hooley, Mellor, Senior, Milnes, Miller, Watts, McShane, Mustapha, El Zakhem, Lawler, Horne. Interchanges: Windley, Hindmarsh, Martin, Matvejev.
Referee: Jack Smith
Video Referee: James Vella
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